


From Whale Island

by Moraith



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 09:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19423159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moraith/pseuds/Moraith
Summary: Some scenes set during the month Gon and Killua were living with Mito on Whale Island.It doesn't take a genius to tell that there's something wrong with Gon's new friend, and Mito is no fool. She does her best to help him. There's only so much she can do, but anything counts.In other words, somebody is finally nice to Killua Zoldyck.





	From Whale Island

**Author's Note:**

> I like Mito. Give this woman more fanfiction.

Gon returned home to Whale Island with a smile, a Hunter License, and a new friend. He looked for all the world like he had gone out adventuring in the woods near the house, not traveled out across the ocean to who knows where. He was the same relaxed cheerful little boy he had been when Mito last saw him. She welcomed him home with open arms and the same playful gentle scoldings she used to give him before he left. Life, interrupted, thrown violently off the rails, fell back into place and began to move again as if nothing had happened at all.

Killua was new, but not unwelcome. He was the same age as Gon and had nearly as much energy to burn. Mito was grateful for the help in keeping Gon happy and entertained. It had been easy to keep up with him when he was younger, but as he grew up and got bigger and stronger, he needed more world to explore than Mito's house could give him. She had never intended to let him out into the forest to fend for himself, but she could never stop him from running off. He couldn't stand being cooped up inside the house or being confined to the empty plains near the house even now. But with Killua around, at the very least, she didn't have to worry about him getting hurt alone with no one to look after him.

More importantly, Gon adored Killua. That alone was enough to make Mito love him too. 

The first impression Mito got from Killua himself, not from Gon insisting he was the coolest and smartest and strongest person in the world, was that he was painfully shy. Killua turned red at the slightest acknowledgment. He didn't talk much, and when he did, it was brief and soft. She heard him and Gon shouting at full volume when they were alone together and had forgotten she was nearby to hear them, but when they were face-to-face, Killua left the talking to Gon.

Mito let him be as shy and quiet as he wanted for the first few days. She fed him and made sure he was clean and healthy, but otherwise left him alone to get his bearings in her home. Though she didn't know him well, Mito thought Killua seemed grateful for the space. Bit by bit, at his own slow pace, Killua took small steps toward opening up. A few days after his arrival, Killua was comfortable enough to talk to Gon in front of Mito, though she had never had a conversation with him herself. It wasn't much, but it was something. 

In those first few days, Mito only heard Killua's family mentioned once: offhandedly, in an overheard conversation between him and Gon, Killua had called his mother an overbearing nag. When, by the end of the week, Mito had not heard so much as a peep from Killua's overbearing nag of a mother, she couldn't help but worry she had inadvertently become a kidnapper. 

She didn't bring it up with Killua. If he had to send Gon to ask her for an extra blanket on a chilly night, getting him to confide in her about anything personal was a fool's errand. Instead, she went to Gon.

Gon informed her, helpfully and with an uncharacteristic dark intensity, that Killua's family wasn't like a normal family. Were he more used to lying and keeping secrets, he might have spared her the gory details of the guardian beast on the mountain and the butlers' cruel lots in life and the blood and the countless lost lives. Because he was more honest than sensitive, he did not. He concluded his explanation with a grim promise that he would never, ever let Killua go back there, to his family and his old life as an assassin. She asked him, gently, what Killua thought about his promise. He scowled, his shoulders going stiff and his hands curling into tight fists, and said he didn't know and that it didn't matter, because he would protect Killua even if Killua didn't want anyone to help him.

Mito felt, in quick succession, pride for her kind and heroic son, fear that the stubborn selfishness and anger boiling away inside him would one day make him less kind and less heroic, sorrow for Killua's lost childhood, and, most strongly, a more tempered slow-burning version of the same fierce protective instinct that drove Gon to bring Killua here in the first place. It couldn't be denied that Gon was more and more an echo of Ging every day, but there was Mito in him as well, planted and raised with care over twelve long years.

Mito lifted Gon up into her arms and held him tightly. It wasn't so easy to hold him up now, but she could still manage. He wasn't too big for his mother quite yet. 

"I love you, Gon," she told him. "Thank you for bringing Killua here. Let's protect him together, okay?"

Gon clung to Mito and nodded an agreement into her shoulder. He couldn't hold on to his anger and resentment for the Zoldycks while his mother was holding him like this. Mito soothed the boiling rage in him and let the guilt and frustration hidden underneath bubble up to the surface. Tears welled up in his eyes, but with his face buried in Mito's shoulder, they soaked into her dress before they could spill down his cheeks.

"Why are they so mean? If Killua has a mom and a dad and four brothers and sisters, he shouldn't have to be sad and lonely. It's not fair."

Mito leaned her head against Gon's. "That's right. It's not fair," she agreed. "But now that you're together, he doesn't have to be sad and lonely anymore. You're here for him." She smiled sadly at the wall and added, "And you don't have to be lonely either. Killua is here for you, too."

Mito held Gon until his tears dried, listened with compassion to his simple childish complaints of cruelty and injustice, and did not answer the questions she could not answer, about how parents could hurt their children and how anyone could turn a blind eye to the people they love suffering. A selfish spiteful desire rose up in her to point out the hypocrisy, that he never cared that Ging had abandoned him and left him to cry alone, that Gon himself would do anything to get his way no matter who stood against him. She choked it down and whispered reassurances instead. She told him that he and Killua would be okay in the end, that there was always hope for happiness no matter how much suffering came before it. She hoped she wasn't lying.

After that, Mito took special care to be kind to Killua. She gave him extra sweets at meals and hugged him whenever she had an excuse (though he got flustered and bristled and complained every time) and listened with her full attention whenever he spoke to her. He didn't ask for much, but what he did ask for, she gave him. He stayed distant and cautious. She didn't begrudge him for it.

In the middle of the second week, Killua started having nightmares. Or, though it pained her to think it, Mito started noticing Killua's nightmares then. Nearly every night, he tossed and turned in his bed (or Gon's bed, depending on who won their nightly argument over who had to sleep on the floor), shivering and whimpering, his body soaked in cold sweat. 

The first time she noticed, he jolted awake the moment she stepped into the room. He clutched Gon's thick comforter in his trembling clawed hands and glared daggers at Mito until she left. When Killua and Gon came downstairs for breakfast the next morning, she knocked her knuckles gently against Killua's head for being rude and for tearing holes in Gon's blankets, then hugged him, ruffled his hair, and gave him an extra pancake. Killua, unsure how to react, stared at his feet, apologized, and gave half of his extra pancake to Gon.

The second time Mito caught Killua in the throes of a nightmare, he was much more deeply asleep. He writhed on the makeshift bed on Gon's floor, his blankets already useless and shredded. His breathing was quick and shallow. He begged for mercy from an unseen enemy in high strangled squeaks and, judging from his twitching and yelping, did not receive it. Gon, who had slept like the dead since he was an infant, lay blissfully unaware in his bed on the other side of the room, drooling onto his patched comforter without a care in the world. 

Mito allowed herself a wry but loving smile at Gon as she stepped into the room. She approached Gon first to do the easy and familiar routine of tugging his blankets out of his mouth, tucking him in properly, and sending him sweet dreams with a kiss on his forehead. Killua, unlike Gon, was uncharted territory. Mito ran her fingers through Gon's hair for a boost of love and confidence, took a breath to steel herself, and approached Killua. She knelt down at his side, then called his name and touched his shoulder to shake him awake. 

The moment her hand made contact, his fingers were at her throat. In an instant, he was sitting halfway up, leaning on his right arm while his left hand cut into the sensitive skin on her neck. His eyes were glassy and half-lidded, still clouded with sleep. 

Mito froze in place. She was no stranger to death. Life on Whale Island wasn't always the easiest; there were dangerous animals and brutal storms lurking around every corner. People died and went missing in the wilderness more often that she cared to think about. But this was different: she was staring her own death in the face. It was not an abstract phantom that stole away her friends and neighbors; it was sharp claws at her throat and dead eyes staring her down without a trace of humanity. She could feel her own pulse pounding against Killua's razor-sharp fingertips. Her mouth went dry and sour. 

A trickle of blood flowed down from Mito's neck. It snaked its way down Killua's finger and fell to the floor in thick droplets. Mito eyed the thin red trail as best as she could without moving her head. Would it be best to call for Gon, to wake him up to make sure he knew how much she loved him? Or would it be too cruel to force him to watch her die? She swallowed past a lump in her throat. Killua's fingers tore through more of her skin as it shifted under them.

And then Killua was awake. His gaze grew sharper and more focused, more alive than before. He snatched his clawed hand back as though it had been burned. He cradled it against his chest, over his own pounding heart. Sweat beaded on his skin. His breathing grew ragged and shallow again. Killua looked at Gon with wide eyes, then turned back to Mito for just an instant. The next moment, he was throwing open Gon's window with a bang and a clatter. Before Mito could get to her feet, he was gone.

Gon began to stir as Mito was getting to her feet. She assured him there was nothing to worry about, and he was thankfully too groggy to argue with her. He laid his head back on his pillow and was asleep again within seconds. Mito closed the window again as quietly as she could, though the frame was a bit warped, so it always squeaked on the way down. She gathered up Killua's shredded blankets and carried them with her out of the room. She dabbed at the bloody spot on her neck with a loose bit of fabric, dropped the rest in a pile in the kitchen to be dealt with later, then marched out of the house to track Killua down.

Killua was good at hiding, but Mito knew every good hiding spot on the island. She discovered him after less than an hour of searching in a small crevice dug into a cliff who knew how many years ago by a long-dry river. It had been Mito's favorite hiding spot when she was his age, not too far from town, but hard to find, and too small for any grown-ups to follow her into. It was too cramped for Gon, who had given up on it after the first tantrum he spent in it at age eight. It was nice to see it get used again, despite the grim circumstances.

Mito sat down near the narrow crevice. She felt for blood on her neck, but the wound was shallow and had closed up within minutes. Killua went still and quiet when she approached, as though she hadn't already noticed him. 

"It's a nice spot, isn't it? I liked it too, when I was your age," Mito said.

"Go away!" Killua snapped. His voice was thick and shaky. Though his face was hidden between the rocks, it couldn't be more obvious that he was crying.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Killua didn't respond. He tried to muffle his sniffling and sobbing, but it bounced off the walls of his hiding spot and echoed out loud and clear. Mito listened in silence, because she didn't have anything else to offer him. Around her, insects chirped and owls called out. A cool breeze blew through the trees and rustled the leaves. The sky was clear and the stars were beautiful.

"It's a nice night," she offered. "There's plenty of space to sit out here if you want to come look."

"Aren't you scared?" Killua mumbled from his hiding spot.

Mito hummed thoughtfully. She pressed her fingertips to the cut Killua had given her, still red and raw, but healing. "...Nope."

Killua barked out a harsh bitter laugh. "You really are Gon's mom, aren't you? Are you stupid? I could kill you."

"Do you want to kill me?"

"That doesn't matter. I can't help it."

Mito leaned back on her palms and looked up at the starry sky. "Really? That's funny. I don't feel dead."

"I hurt you! It's not _funny!_ "

Mito rolled her eyes, grateful that Killua was holed away and unable to see it. "If you really wanted to, you could kill me in a second. When I tried to wake you up and surprised you and you were scared, all you did was give me a little scratch. It's not even bleeding now." She smiled at the dark crevice. "You're not a killer, Killua. If you can stop yourself from killing me when you're half asleep and you think I'm trying to hurt you, I don't have anything to worry about."

"You're an idiot," Killua insisted weakly.

"You like idiots. Gon is your best friend."

Killua went quiet again. Mito's kind smile turned smug. 

"Well, if you want to cry out here by yourself all night, I can't stop you," Mito said, over Killua's indignant protests that he _wasn't crying_ , "but Gon and I will miss you if you aren't home for breakfast."

When Killua refused to respond, she stood up, said good night, and walked home. She didn't hear Killua following her, but she didn't expect to. He wouldn't have been much of an assassin if he couldn't trail an ordinary person like her. When Mito arrived at her house, she dug through the laundry for a clean pair of clothes for Killua and drew him a bath. 

The door creaked open only a few minutes later, then closed again without the sound of a single word or footstep to accompany it. As expected, Killua had followed her home. He was covered in mud and his eyes were red and puffy and his hair was a tangled mess, but he was safe and sound. Mito was waiting for him with a stern lecture at the ready and a change of clothes in hand. She sent him off to get himself cleaned up, which he protested as cruel tyranny, but went along with without too much fuss. Upon his return, she sat him down to brush the tangles and leaf litter out of his hair and, while he was a captive audience, scolded him for running off into the unfamiliar woods in the dead of night. Killua squirmed at first, his face flushed with embarrassment and anxiety, but slowly relaxed into the rhythm of the brush running through his hair.

Once he was cleaned up, Mito sent him back upstairs to bed with a set of fresh intact blankets. When the morning came, Gon woke up none the wiser and came thundering down the stairs for breakfast with Killua, restless but subdued, trailing after him.

After that, the nightmares got worse. He couldn't make it through the night without jolting awake with a scream caught in his throat. Mito knew better than to try to wake Killua when she found him thrashing now. Instead, she left glasses of milk and sweet cookies at his bedside for when he woke up on his own. From time to time, he wandered downstairs to find Mito on nights when it started early. On the few occasions she was still awake, reading or cleaning or keeping herself up with worry, he sat down next to her, leaned up against her side, and nibbled on his cookies in sullen silence. She held him for as long as he wanted her to and didn't pry.

The month sailed by at a breakneck pace. Gon and Killua spent the days playing and laughing and running together in the woods, as carefree and happy as children deserved to be. But all good things had to come to an end. Before she knew it, Mito was saying goodbye to Gon again, and he was taking Killua with him. Letting Killua go out into the world felt like a mistake, maybe even more than letting Gon did. She knew, though he didn't, that he needed someone to look after him. She also knew, though he didn't, that Gon was not going to be that person. But separating him from Gon was crueler than anything else she could do, and stopping Gon from leaving was impossible.

So, instead of holding him captive where he could be safe, Mito pulled Killua aside on the night before his and Gon's departure. 

"Killua," she began. He refused to meet her eyes. She carried on anyway. "I want you to know that if you want to, you can come back here and stay with me any time." Mito knelt down in front of Killua, so close he couldn't avoid looking at her. She met his flustered scowl with a warm welcoming smile. "Even if Gon isn't here, or if he doesn't want you to, you can always come home to Whale Island. I'll miss you."

Killua blushed. He muttered a terse acknowledgment as his shoulders rose up around his ears. Mito exhaled a fond exasperated sigh and hugged him.

"Don't let Gon push you around too much. Take care of yourself."

She released him and stood up. He glared mutely at the floor. She looked down at him, her expression growing stern. 

"Killua," she said again. He looked up. She held out her hand to him, pinky extended. "This is important. Pinky promise me you won't go hurting yourself out there."

Killua bit his lip and looked back down at the floor. Slowly, hesitantly, he held up his hand, pinky extended.

"I promise."

Mito smiled and linked her pinky with Killua's. "It's a deal."

She coaxed him into saying the entire rhyme, though he was embarrassed about it and fought her the whole way through, and sealed the promise with a kiss of the thumbs, just like she always did with Gon. Killua tried to hide his smile by ducking his head. Mito ruffled his hair and, because she was feeling generous, let him get away with it. 

"Have fun out there, Killua," she said.

"Yeah. I will."

Killua and Gon left the next morning, with their usual bombast and fanfare. Mito hugged them both as many times as they would let her. When she returned to her quiet empty house that evening, she held out her pinky and hoped beyond hope that both of them, her son and his friend who was nearly as much a part of the family, would make it home in one piece.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler alert: Mito is gonna be disappointed, lol.


End file.
